


Anyone There?

by iamavacado



Category: Game Grumps
Genre: Death, Gen, Ghost Hunters, Hallucinations, disembodied voice - Freeform, game grumps as ghost hunters, tw blood
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-30
Updated: 2016-09-30
Packaged: 2018-08-18 15:15:49
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,526
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8166497
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/iamavacado/pseuds/iamavacado
Summary: A trio of ghost hunters (or rather, two ghost hunters and an unwilling tag along) hunt through a building in search of ghosts. And surprise, the ghost likes to fuck with people's heads.





	

"This place is fucking creepy." The flashlight held in Barry's hand shook, unsteadily pointing at a closed door he swore was open two minutes ago.

Arin scoffed, sweeping his own flashlight across the room, landing on a passage leading into a dark, decrepit hallway. "Yeah. Creepy. That's all it is." He started towards the hallway, stepping over the debris strewn on the floor. He glanced down, noticing a piece of paper that had writing on it. It wasn't like the random files he'd stepped on before. The writing here was clear, scribbled on with a frantic hand. It read: "Believe them". Arin half smiled. "Someone needs a shrink," he said to himself.

"It's more than creepy Arin, you know it," Dan said, hurrying to catch up with Arin, who was starting down the hallway already. "Something's in here."

"Yeah, I agree with you," Arin said. "The only things in here are us and random shit on the floor. That's it."

"Come on Arin, don't be so ignorant." Barry caught up with the two as well, eyes focused forward. "You know this place has ghosts in it."

"Bar, we've been searching this place for three hours. What have we found?"

Barry opened his mouth to speak, but then closed it, stumped. Arin saw this, and smiled like he'd won something.

"That's right. Nothing. Nothing except empty rooms, files from the people who used to live here, and a closed door." Arin's flashlight flickered for a second. He smacked the side of it to correct it. 

"Yeah, but the door closed on its own," Dan said, peering wearily into rooms as he passed them.

"Did you see it close by itself?" Arin asked.

"Well no, but I saw it was open. Me and Barry both did."

"But did you see it close?"

Dan glared ahead. "No."

"Alright then. So I wasted a night with you two for nothing. I could be in bed asleep, seeing as we all three have work in five hours."

"Arin," Barry said firmly, "you've heard the rumors about this place. Voices in the rooms, cackling, slamming doors, shadows passing right in front of people's faces! You don't believe that?"

Arin's light flickered again. He shook it, smacked it, and turned it back on. He should've changed the batteries before he left home. "Was any of it caught on camera?"

Barry sounded annoyed. "No, Arin," he said through gritted teeth.

"Alright then. And they weren't even rumors. Alex told you all that bull."

"Why would my own brother lie about it?" Barry asked, an edge in his tone. He looked into a room as he passed it. There was a lone, unmade bed sitting inside it. Nothing else.

"To get a reaction out of you," Arin replied matter-of-factly. "You know how he is. He loves messing with you. Both of you." Arin stopped at a doorway into another bedroom. He stuck his flashlight beam into it, searched around lazily. There was a dresser in there. He stepped inside. "And since you're both gullible kids, you believed him. And then you dragged me into it too."

Dan and Barry followed Arin into the room. Dan flicked his light around nervously. It landed on a beat up doll. An old porcelain one with real hair and a silk dress. It sat crookedly on the bed, missing its eyes and one of its hands. Dan felt a shiver down his spine. He turned away, moved closer to Barry.

Arin stepped up to the dresser. He set his flashlight down on the top and opened the drawers. It took a bit of pulling on the old wood to get the drawers open, but he did eventually. Old clothes, a few trinkets. Arin opened the second drawer and dug around. It was full of sewing material apparently, and Arin pricked himself on a needle. He yelped, pulling his finger out. A small dot of blood stained his finger and he put his finger in his mouth, sucking for just a second. That stung.

"Don't go randomly digging around in things, you idiot," Barry said. Arin shot him a look, scooping up his flashlight and walking out of the room.

"There's nothing in here," he mumbled.

"Arin, there is no way you can't think ghosts exist," Dan said as he fell in stride with Arin again. He looked like a shaking skeleton right now. His eyes flitted this way and that way, seemingly unable to focus on one thing for more than three seconds before nervously looking away, as if something was going to jump out and grab him and drag him away. His flashlight was unsteady in his hand.

"I can and I do." Arin shined his light in the rooms as he passed them. A study full of waterlogged books. A bathroom with a broken mirror. A small closet with a few hanging coats. An empty room with an open window--

And a door that slammed right in Arin's face.

Both Barry and Dan jumped back with a scream. Arin fell back against the wall, dazed. His flashlight slipped out of his hands and clattered against the ground. It flickered for a second, then went out. Arin stared at the door open mouthed for a few seconds before he felt a slap on his shoulder.

"Did you see that shit?" Dan asked, voice shrill. "You fucking saw that one with your own two eyes!"

Barry nodded along, half excited, half terrified. "You can't deny something like that!"

Arin stared ahead for a second, processing what had happened. He wasn't fully sure that it *did* happen, but of course it did. He shook his head, as if to jerk himself back into reality, and said, "The window was open, it was a fuckin' draft."

Barry groaned loudly while Dan said angrily, "What. The fuck. Dude! A draft would not leave a door slamming in your face. That was not some draft. You can't explain that away." Dan poked his arm. _"You_ have denial issues."

"And _you_ have confirmation bias." Arin leaned down and picked up his flashlight. He smacked it. Shook it. Tried to turn it on. No dice. He had broken it. Arin gave a short sigh, letting it fall to the ground again. "Can we leave?"

Barry smirked. "Getting cold feet?"

"More like sore feet." Arin yawned. "I'm exhausted."

Dan shook his head. His face was more determined than anything Arin had ever seen. "Heeeell no. We're gonna find this ghost."

"You can't _see_ ghosts Dan, how are we supposed to find it?"

Dan shoved his flashlight into Arin's hands, then turned to Barry. "You go that way--" he pointed down the hallway-- "and me and Arin will check out this room here." He pointed to the room across from the one the three were just in, and then he faced Arin. "Okay?"

"Splitting up. You're a genius," Arin said, rolling his eyes.

"You got a better idea?"

"Maybe...not splitting up? You know, not being the dumb kids in a horror movie?"

Barry laughed a one syllable laugh. "This isn't a movie. If you're so sure this place isn't haunted, then what's the harm?" He clapped Dan's shoulder. "Yell if you need anything." Barry turned then, starting off down the hallway, flashlight bobbing up and down with his steps.

Dan took in a deep breath, turning back to Arin with a smile that betrayed his shaking hands. "Let's get to it."  
Arin couldn't help but smile back in amusement. "If Barry dies, I'm blaming you."

Dan only rolled his eyes, pointing Arin into the room he had mentioned earlier. He followed behind as Arin stepped forward into it. He swept the light back and forth, taking in the room. It seemed like any kind of old bedroom. One twin sized bed in the corner, unmade and missing a pillow. The posts holding it up were rusty, old, dark, and rotted from years of sitting alone. Next to the bed was a small table with a bottle of open pills next to it. Arin got closer, picking the bottle up. He read the label. 

"Holly Conrad...take by mouth twice a day...Diazepam," he read. "What's Diazepam?"

"Isn't that for anxiety or something?" Dan asked, unsure. Arin shrugged. He set the empty bottle down. 

Arin looked to the left, coming face to face with a battered vanity. A few tubes of lip gloss and mascara littered the top, and a single drawer with a lock on it was there too. He pulled on it. It didn't budge. Arin looked into the mirror, barely able to see his reflection through all the grime and dust. He reached up and rubbed some of it off with his hand. His reflection stared back at him. Tired eyes. Deep set frown. Greasy hair tied in a ponytail. Pajama shirt and pants. Nothing like what a real ghost hunter would wear. But, he *was* dragged out of his bedroom at eleven o' clock at night; he didn't care to change.

Arin turned and faced a door which presumably was the closet. He opened it, having to pull on the door a few good times before getting it open. There was a switch next to the doorframe. He tried it. Nothing.

"Figures," he said.

Arin shone his light in the closet, glossing over old dresses and lively pink sweaters, clothes that betrayed the atmosphere of the building. He leaned farther inside, propping himself up with a hand on the door frame. The other hand searched with the flashlight, which revealed a big section of the closet that jutted to the left. There was a large wooden box, shut with an unlocked clasp. Jackpot.

"Dan, here, hold the light for me, shine it down here." He indicated the box. "I'm gonna see what's in here." Arin held the light out behind him, and he felt it being taken from his hand. The light was still on the box, still as a board. He climbed through the closet, pushing away a few cobwebs (much to his disgust) as he went.

Once Arin was at the box, he shoved the lid open and peered inside. There wasn't much. A few necklaces. Some rings. Was that a wig? He pawed around, taking things out of the box to look further. Other than a bunch of tangled chains and earrings, there was nothing. He pondered, for just a moment, taking some, but he was better than that. That would just be a dick move.

Arin shimmied out from inside the closet. "There's nothing in here," he said, dusting off his clothes. "Let's find Barry and leave. I'm tired dude. I'm sure you are too." Arin looked up and looked at Dan, who was holding the flashlight.

Or at least that's what Arin had thought. 

He stared in frozen fear at the light, which was floating in mid air, hovering back and forth, shining in Arin's face. After a few seconds, it shot towards him at breakneck speed, just whizzing past him and shattering against the wall behind him. He fell back against the wall.

It was several moments before he could speak again. Before he could move. "Dan?" Arin looked around the room, eyes scanning what they could in the darkness. Dan wasn't there. "Dan," he called louder. "Dan? Dan!"

He stood from the wall and sped out of the room, looking down either side of the hallway. No sign of him. A breath caught in Arin's throat as he backed into the room again. This was crazy. This wasn't happening. He was having some kind of fever dream. He couldn't be awake right now.

A high pitched cackling was heard all around Arin. It came from every direction, no one in sight. He smacked his hands over his ears to try and block it out. No use, it was too loud. Too sinister.

"Your friend got lost?" the voice asked. "Better not look for him if you want him alive."

"W...what is..." murmured Arin. His lip quivered.

A hiss came from the voice. "You're in my house now, asshole."

The mirror flew off the vanity and smashed in the ground, glass flying everywhere. Arin stumbled backwards just in time to miss a shard that was headed right for his throat. That's when he heard the scream.

"ARIN!"

His feet registered the shout before his brain did. He was rushing to the sound of Dan's cries, which were frenzied and panicked, calling for Arin in a loud voice that he had never heard before. He sounded absolutely petrified.

"ARIN HELP!" 

"DAN, I'M COMING!"

"Don't chase after him, if you find him, I'll kill him. Leave him be." That damned voice. It felt like it was coming from inside his head, vibrating against his skull and making him disoriented. Arin wanted to just tell it to fuck off and fuck itself while it was at it. He ran. He kept running. He heard Dan scream a loud, rough scream that was cut short by a hard sob. He was being hurt. He was being _hurt._

"DAN! HOLD ON!"

Dan was openly weeping as he called, "Arin! It hurts!"

_I'm coming. I'm coming. Hold on, hold on!_

"Leave him be I said!" The voice shrieked with a laugh. "Leave him be!"

Arin ignored it. He sprinted down the hallway, running headfirst right into Barry. They tumbled on the ground with a hard smack.

"Barry!" Arin yelled as he yanked him up. "Where's Dan?"

Barry stared at him, Doe eyed. "W-what are you talking about? I thought he was with _you!"_

"He was, he was, but I can't find him, and...and can't you hear him screaming?" 

"Scr...screaming...what? What are you--?"

Just then, another howl rang in Arin's ears. "ARIN!"

And just as fast as he had stopped, he started again, this time with Barry after him. "I'M COMING!"

"Arin!" Barry called after him. "What is going on!?"

"Arin! Arin _please!"_ Dan yelled. His cries became more garbled, fast, panicked. He heard the voice giggle with glee. 

"I'll kill him!" It screamed. "Stay away!"

Arin couldn't comprehend what the voice was saying. All he heard was Dan screaming. His screaming. His screaming. His--

Choking.

Silence.

Arin stopped in the doorway of an empty storage room. There was nothing in here but a body, pierced with a shard of glass as tall as Arin was. 

"Oh...my God..." Arin said. His heart nearly stopped beating in his chest as he looked at Dan's mangled body, splayed out on the cement floor. He felt his throat contract, his limbs seized up, his mouth stuck open in shock. This wasn't....it wasn't...

It was.

"You should've let THIS little piggy find his OWN way home," the voice said condescendingly. "I warned you."

Arin tried to from Dan's name in his mouth. He tried to call to him, step to him, see if he was okay. But he couldn't do it. He couldn't move forward. He screamed, or rather, he tried to. It came out as a raspy squeal. Arin covered his mouth. Tears swelled in his eyes and fell down his cheeks as he fell back against the wall and slid down, screaming and sobbing into his hand.

He shut his eyes, unable to take in the sight of Dan anymore, motionless, chest replaced with a shard of glass. It was too much to understand. He couldn't even fully grasp it. All he grasped was that it was his fault. His fault. Dan was dead now and it was his fault. The only way he could express this was to scream louder. 

After a few moments that seemed to drag on for years, he felt his shoulders being held and shaken. His eyes opened. Barry was in front of him, calling his name, or something like that. Arin couldn't hear. All he heard was a soft laugh. It grew louder with the passing seconds. Arin pleaded quietly for it to stop. Stop. Stop!

"JUST STOP!" Arin finally screamed out loud. Barry reeled back, startled. He hadn't meant the scream to be for Barry, but it worked. The laughing went away with a wisp of a hiss. There was silence. He still couldn't hear. He saw Barry motioning to someone off to the side. Barry stepped back, and Dan replaced him.

Wait. What?

Dan held his shoulders, more softly. He rubbed up and down, easing Arin's hand off of his mouth. Easing him on his feet again. Slowly, Arin started processing what Dan was saying.

"Arin," he said, "I'm here. I'm right here. I'm okay. See? It's me. It's _me."_

He slid more into focus. The bouncing of his curls. The glisten of his eyes. The feeling of his hands against the bare of Arin's arms. He felt him. He saw him. He didn't understand. He was laying on the ground, dead, moments ago.

Arin swallowed. "....Dan?"

Dan sighed in relief. "It's me buddy. It's Danny." He smiled. That soft, sympathetic smile he gives that twisted Arin's insides whenever he saw it. When he felt that twist in his stomach this time, he knew it was real. He knew that he wasn't hallucinating.

Arin yanked Dan forward and held him in a bone crushing hug. He knew he was hugging tight enough to break his friend in two, but Dan didn't protest. He only hugged back, letting his head fall on Arin's shoulder and he continued to say that he was okay, he was here, it was alright. 

Arin couldn't bring himself to let go. He held the fabric of Dan's shirt as tight as he could, afraid that if he did let go, he'd never be able to grab on again. Dan didn't mind. He stood there, holding Arin back like a rock pulling him to steady ground again. He felt himself crying and suddenly, he could speak again. When he opened his mouth, it all tumbled out.

"You were gone," he started. His voice was wobbly. "And then the mirror flew down and...and I heard you screaming. You were screaming so loud. *So* loud. He was hurting you. He was..."

"Who was hurting me, Arin?" Dan asked, voice gentle. "I was down the hallway. I said I was going."

"I didn't hear you. All I heard was...was laughing and...and screaming. And your screaming, and his laughing. And God, I saw you. You were dead." Arin pulled away from Dan, wiping his eyes with the heel of his hand. "I _saw_ you. You were dead. You were...bloody and-and hit with a piece of...." He stopped himself. He didn't want to say it. "But I saw you. You were right--" Arin pointed past Dan, indicating what he had seen when he rushed in the room. Where Dan's body had been laying. Now, though, the ground was empty. No glass. No blood. No body. "--there... You were laying there." More tears fell. He wiped them away angrily. 

Both Dan and Barry turned around and saw the empty space where Arin had pointed. They saw nothing there. "Arin," Barry said, "what happened to you?"

Arin took in a shaky breath. He held it for a few seconds before letting out slowly. "I don't know. I don't-" Tears again. _Fuck me dude._ He leaned into Dan again, sniffling and shutting his eyes again. "I want to go home."

Dan patted Arin's back. "We'll go home buddy. Let's go."

Arin stood straight again, and took a few steps forward. Those few steps were as far as he got on his own however, because suddenly, Arin felt dizzy. He fell forward and Barry had to rush forward and catch him before he face planted the cement. The world swirled in front of him. He felt as if the inside of his head had been filled with nails, banging around his skull. He needed to lay down.

"Come on Arin, here we go." Barry hoisted Arin up. He slid one arm under Arin's left arm, Dan under the right. They half walked half dragged him out of the building, Arin muttering thank you all the way out. He wasn't focused on where he was stepping, which let him to trip more than once on the way out. All he could focus on was that scene that played out in his head over and over again. He would blink, and he'd see it. Blood. Glass. Slamming doors. Eerie cackles. It was all around him.

He didn't feel better until he was sitting in the back seat of Barry's car, buckled up and covered in Dan's fur blanket. It smelled of home, not the mildew of the building.

"On the way home Arin," Dan said from the passenger seat. "On the way home."

Arin lazily nodded, eyes drifting to look out the window as Barry turned the ignition.

In one of the windows, just as the car was pulling away, he saw it. He couldn't be sure if it was a figment of his imagination, but if he focused, he could've sworn he saw them.

Two blue eyes, piercingly vivid, staring at him through the darkness.

**Author's Note:**

> This is a branch off of @legendodgrump's Ghost Grumps au. I really enjoyed writing this. Any criticisms? Praise? I'd love to hear from you.


End file.
